Rational(?) Jake Sully
by Gin-san needs his parfait
Summary: What if Jake had a brain to use? What if he decided to make different plans instead of an all-out war that he'd loose if he didn't suddenly find his inner hippie and decided to go pray to a goddess that wasn't his own?
1. InWhich Jake discovers what it's all abo

What if Jake had a brain to use? What if he decided to make different plans instead of an all-out war that he'd loose if he didn't suddenly find his inner hippie and decided to go pray to a goddess that wasn't his own?

.

It's always been like this, Jake thinks as he looks at what he thinks he might look like if he slept peacefully without his nightmares. Tommy's face always was a bit softer. He has seen wonders (that was what he called science when trying to explain it to his mentally under-furnished brother) instead of dead friends and too much blood. Jake always thought it'd be him lying there with Tommy looking down at his (perhaps even mutilated) face. It is odd that Jake has no scars on his face after even his legs gave out on him. Or, more specifically, his spine.

(He'd rather be scarred beyond recognition, so that he wouldn't be reminded of Tommy whenever he looks in a mirror. So, because he wouldn't take a knife to his own face, he doesn't look into anything reflective anymore.)

He hates moments like these where his mortality is far too obvious, glaring in his face like a woman scorned, but still he himself lives and another precious person is gone. He likes to say that on no day is he closer to his death than their birthday.

But he likes to say lots of things. Not, that they make anyone feel better. If anything, he's more of a jackass for opening his mouth.

There are lots of people who like to say lots of things. "...And since your genetic make up is identical, you can take his place. And the pay is good."

Fuckers.

He sometimes wonders why he went to war and got himself caught up in an explosion if all he can come back to are corporations and people who always need to sell you something.

When it comes down to it, it's not like he has anything better to do with his life. And this could mean a chance to literally stand on his own two feet again. All that had to happen for that was his twin brother dying because someone can't make an honest living. But then again, what's more honest than theft these days? Jake never could see behind the obvious and what he was meant to see. There's a reason he sent his earnings to Tommy for medical school and his Phd. Jake doesn't even know what that stands for.

And now he's waking up from cyro with too many morbid thoughts on his mind and no one to pull him back to where he knows his shit. He doesn't stop being a marine just because he can't walk. But it's a hell of a lot harder to be mistaken for one.

No one likes looking at cripples, least of all the cripples themselves.

Worst thing is, he used to be one of them 'Jarheads' who mocked the ones who didn't even manage to die properly. Now he just... he's kind of done being unmindful and an ignorant jerk. But also, he's still a marine and so that security drill reminds him of what he came to think of as home and if not friends, then at least allies and no subtleties that anyone expected him to pick up on.

Here though, on this planet full of vegetation and life, there is the corporate business that he's meant to view as his ally. And if his allies are men in too expensive suits who've never even realised what it means to destroy and drill and take, should he get with the geeky crowd? Because Jake sucks at that. Augustine is actually the fun kind of witty with enough bite behind her bark that he can like her if she stops being upset and whiny. It is how it is. And Jake even got to pig hearts, so there.

At least he gets to see what it feels like to dig his toes into the earth. And the feeling fills him with so much euphoria, he hasn't stopped grinning or making wide eyes at anything since he stepped into his new body.

It kind of hurts having to realise that that isn't his real one. It actually hurts a fucking lot. Which is why it's so easy to accept a new mission and say 'yes sir' when he's being offered his own legs back. In the back of his mind he knows he'll have to think this over while he pretends he has something more than air between his ears. But he can _get his legs back_. And that beats just about anything right now.

Trudie is the kind of rough personality he's been around and gotten along with all his life. She ribs and teases, but it's all in good fun. He's never been sensitive anyway.

Which is probably why he ends up running for his life on his first day out of boot camp.

He soon realises that anything he's been taught about wilderness survival won't help him here. This is a different planet ('eco-system, J', says Tommy while rolling his eyes in the back of his mind). Different planet means different rules. And the rules here are savage, but fascinating. It feels purer somehow. Which is why he decides against lighting a torch and drawing hunters near when all he has for self defence is a long but sturdy spear and a knife.

That would just be all kinds of stupid. Which he is. But even idiots take a vacation from their usual behavioural patterns.

What did Augustine say? 'I'm sure they're watching us now.' Maybe all he has to do is wait. Really, when he thinks rationally about it, the indigenous are his only hope of returning to camp. He can't light a bonfire in a forest and he's not seen any clearings so far. He has no map. He has no way of judging the four cardinal points to judge his location in relation to the camp because he has no idea where it is, where he is and how far it would be anyway because he was too busy enjoying the ride in the chopper. The colours were so vibrant and _alive_.

Still are. Perhaps especially at night. Everything glows and the forest becomes an entirely different _world_ where he doesn't mind just sitting and looking until someone find him or he has to start hunting down his own food. Which could be tricky because he's no navy seal. He's a foot soldier. He eats rations from which to live and if he ever sees any wildlife that looks edible he's too slow to kill it. He's decent with a knife, but he's reluctant to throw it in case the animal runs off with his weapon if he fails to kill at first shot. Also, back home animals in wilderness that are edible have become kind of rare. As has open space or vegetation. So he has no practice in tracking or stealth.

Everything just _glows_. The mossy ground, the weird plants, his own dotted skin... all right, fine. That is a bit creepy. He's a little (a lot) creeped out right now. He can't just wait here...

He could never sit still anyway. So this is where his idiocy returns with a vengeance. He's gonna go look for a way back.

He's not quite sure how he ended up with a snarling blue person beneath him, but here he is and the girl just won't stop struggling. Seriously. How is he supposed to try and communicate his lost-ness when she tries to kick and bite and scratch him all the damn time? Right, okay, maybe he should get off of her. He does that, carefully. No need to loose an eye on his first day or ever, really.

She doesn't get any friendlier for his trouble. At least Jake is standing.

"Look, if you could just point me in the right direction", he dodges an agitated swat with a long arrow, "I'll be out of your hair in a moment, yeah? Just-", he dodges again, "Calm down for one goddamn minute!"

She snarls again and Jake wonders how this is his life. Fuck vegetation and savage new rules, he'll take Augustine over this any day.

Then something of astronomical weirdness happens. A white, creepy, glowing bug tries to float onto his hand. Like hell! Who knows what kinds of rabies that thing has? Or whatever the plant equivalent is.

He quickly bats it away, but it _comes back_. Hasn't it understood the universal law of survival? If something swats you away, you get the hell out of there, or you'll be squish on a wall.

And of fucking course the bug travels in swarms! Worst night ever. Like, _ever_.

"No!", she grabs his hand as he tries to swat again - _Why_ is he always the one attracting all the bugs? -, "No! A sign! A sign from Eywa!"

What.

Bugs that do who knows what try to swarm him like every pest he's encountered so far and she thinks someone is telling her something? What the hell? He bats the one trying to land on his face away. Ha. Weird bugs twenty and counting, Jake two.

And now he's following the half-naked - well, actually... he's not going to think about that - to her village. Because he'll be lost otherwise and never find back to base.

He resigns himself to a sleepless couple of days.

He is finally finding his feet on the weird tree roots and starting to run. Good feeling, that. Running. Using his legs in general is pure ecstasy. Which is, of course, when his night gets worse.

A sling around his ankles makes him drop to the ground painfully. But his body is resilient, so he's okay. Except for the bows drawn and hostile eyes on him, those aren't so cool. He decides that pulling out his knife to free his ankles now is not a good idea and decides to wait for the girl to tell the others about the bugs.

One of them in particular seems very put-out by what she's spouting, but he complies and Jake is hauled off to the home tree.

And what is with all the touching? Have they never heard of personal space? He likes his personal space and has the weird urge to hiss and snarl and snap. He doesn't. Because as weird as glowing dots on his body are, he is still a halfway civilised person when you overlook the coarse attitude and resilience to learning.

"What are you called?", the Dragonlady asks and Jake wonders whether it's a good idea to tell them his true name. What does he know about their weird mojo anyway? Names have a lot of power, even if it's only the image he paints. So what image does he want to project? Someone trustworthy, obviously, so he's gotta give them some, too. That's how trust works. And any healthy relationship. Give and take.

Only, he's never really been the trustworthy sort, has he?

"Jake Sully. I'm here to learn", yeah right. Like he'll ever sit through lectures again if he can help it.

She says something about cups that are already full. Scientists. Yes, always as cocksure as an unbloodied greenhorn, aren't they?

"I can guarantee you, mine's empty", and ain't that just his entire life summed up in a sentence? He's a Jarhead, after all. "I'm not a scientist. I was a marine - a... warrior", in for a penny..., "Of the Jarhead clan."

He can barely keep from laughing at how seriously they take his words. Goddamn, how do they even hope to go against the Aliens if they believe every word he says? Suspicion is important in warfare. But to them, it's not warfare, is it? They live in a tree. What do they know about the magnitude of destruction the humans will bring?

Nothing.

Jake realises that maybe, just maybe, he should be telling them about every exploitable weakness he knows about. Because as much as he pities them, he doesn't think they deserve to die. They're untainted in a way humanity hasn't been in a long time.

Fucking hell. He's going soft. Going soft without his orders. He's sure he'll get some, from both Augustine and that 'tough' guy of a commanding officer. Only he's not tough. Not in the true sense. Sure, he's fought and has the scar to prove it, but he's not the type to do what he commands his troops on the ground to do. He'll just press a button and never watch the light fade in someone's eyes. He's one of those soldiers that are far too happy to flip a switch and wave their conscience good-bye.

"A warrior? I could take him!", the angry one from earlier shouts suddenly, and Jake thinks he must be some kind of future leader or something because he wears more on his body than the others.

"We have never had a warrior of the sky-people among us", the Feather Shaman says and this does not bode well for Jake. He just needs a way back to base, nothing more.

And because he is forced to play nice, he gets roped into weeks of studying under the girl, learning the ways of the clan. He already knows that they love nature and all that, he just wants to get back to base... Stupid bugs.

He blames the insects.


	2. InWhich He disturbs Neytiri

Jake might be an idiot, but for all he knows, Selfridge and Quartritch don't deserve anything but idiocy from him. So what he does, is play along.

He plays the eager legless jarhead he introduced himself as to the monkeys. Because no one will expect to be stabbed in the back by a guy with everything to gain if he does as commanded. Where'd he run to here, after all? Why would he, if he can get his legs back?

And it's fucking tempting. It is, Jake's not gonna lie. But what would he be doing with functioning legs back on Earth? Fuck around until he gets killed for the money in his wallet like Tommy did? What's he got left there except for things he decided to leave behind for a chance to stand on feet, legs again? What's that worth, then, if he's already given it up?

If there's anything this planet has taught him in this one field trip, it's that running out here versus running on Earth is just so much _more_. The air he can suck into his monkey-lungs here is so much cleaner, the ground his feet pound into is so much more alive and, most of all, he's not the only predator around. Because fuck fighting against his own kind, the primal instinct of being a hunter and the hunted at the same time, and it's fucking exhilarating. Pandora.

Kind of ironic how Earth is named after fertile soil and it's got almost none left.

Augustine, out of all of them there, is the only one who looks at him with something more than just the desire to exploit the position he's found himself in. In her eyes, there is envy.

She can't leave the base except for science projects which she needs a chopper for. She can't explore like he can. She can't learn like he's supposed to.

Jake can use that. He knows in this, she's more likely to be on his side than Selfridge's. She can be his Quartermaster. She'll be a good one, too. Now he just has to tell her what he's got in mind.

After hearing that awful, cocksure recount of Quartritch's scar-story, Jake needs someone with a bit of compassion beneath that hard shell. Back in Venezuela, those stories were what you told the green ones, the idiots and the cowards. Your friends, though, them you told the gritty truth that scrapes open your wounds like nothing else can. Or you say nothing and just…

Anyway, Augustine isn't hard to find and so, after retreating to her office and thinking about how funny her confusion that she's hiding is on her, when most of her life she's probably never been anything but certain of her own knowledge.

"I'm sure you know all about what I've just agreed to do", he says and watches her thinned lips go white. Then her wicked sharp intellect seems to catch on.

"I think", she says then, slowly, face pinched like she just ate something sour, "That I might've pegged you for an idiot too early."

Jake gives her his best boyscout smile and shoves more lemons down her throat, "Oh no, my village will call often enough to ask for their idiot back."

She even laughs. But then she goes back to being serious. "So what is it that you need me for?"

"I'm being forced to learn how to live like a monkey", he grins at her disapproval, "But I'm not about to do that only to later find out it was all for nothing because there won't be any trees left for me to climb."

And so, her pragmatic side ventures forth. "What's your plan?"

"I'm playing along, for now. But I need to know in which areas I can bullshit them and they won't smell the pile."

Augustine has many, many ideas about that. Jake thinks she's got lots of steaming pies in the corners of Selfridge's office.

Compared to that, learning how to use this new body for all the crazy shit his _teacher_ throws him into, is a challenge. But then again, if he can walk, he can run.

And once he does, he can outrun her. Fuck being beaten into the correct form, it's not like he doesn't know how to fire a gun. Who needs a bow? So he sneakily manages to learn more about that poison they tip their arrows with. It is, of course, meant to keep the hunted animals still, so that they can be relieved of their misery faster and delivered to Eywa, but coating a bullet with it works fine, too. And, it also turns out that just touching it, a human will be unable to move within a minute. Slap it on Quartritch's door handle and Jake won't ever have to listen to him talk ever again.

He also learns that any knives they have are carved from bones or the teeth of huge predators. They would shatter against the metal of a machine gun brought up for a block. So he goes about publicly melting a few buttons from his jacket that he's not allowed to wear anymore and making a few more **somethings** out of it, using the flat surface of a stone and another one.

The children have begun playing with fire. Jake's not very popular with the parents.

He finds out that all foodstuffs are carried up into the Home Tree by hand. What's the point of having only one giant staircase without proper handholds if you can't use it to pull shit up from downstairs?

It's been a while, but he can figure out pulleys and weights well enough. The real challenge is relating to someone with the needed finesse at woodworking what it is he needs. Jake would really like some pen and paper, here. But, with Neytiri's reluctant help, he manages to explain how the required effort can be halved through more pulleys and so on and so forth. The result is intrigued looks from Feather Shaman and Dragon Lady, odd ones from Neytiri as they see demonstrated on a low-hanging branch what he thinks they should be doing with the entire tree.

A week later he sees an army of young monkeys and some old ones carving pulleys out of wood and fashioning sturdy ropes from vines and that's that. He's done his part.

When one day he sees young monkey-boys training in hand to hand combat and he winces at their basic mistakes he doesn't notice Neytiri's sharp look. She doesn't ask there and instead drags him back to practise with his bow.

Later, during a light lunch, when he eats a couple fruit with his knife instead of biting into them like she does, she asks why. Jake tells her that most of the time, sky-people don't eat with their hands. Then he amends that some do, but he finds it unhygienic when he hasn't been able to wash off the dirt. Then he realises that none of the blue monkeys must have ever had a hot shower before. That's something for Augustine to figure out how to show them, then.

"Earlier", she says in her strange accent, "The boys who were… fighting. You looked… like you were in pain", she decides to say, but Jake knows the word she was looking for was 'pitying'.

He shrugs, cleans the knife on the cloth he keeps tucked into the side of his underwear-thingy when they're near the Home Tree, and slides it into the holster he strapped to his forearm. "Combat training", he answers slowly and catches her look of confusion, "Fighting for practise was never done like that where I learnt it. We… were taught which areas on the body are the most vulnerable, how to best redirect attacks and how to predict the opponent's movements."

Jake sees that she is unconvinced, as always. "For example here", he points to his throat, "If it is crushed, I will suffocate- be unable to breathe and die. If I am struck here", he indicates the area of the solar plexus that the monkeys, oddly enough, also have, "All breath will leave my lungs and I will be unable to breathe deeply for a while. And, if I am hit hard enough in certain areas on the head, I will fall unconscious."

He looks at her wide eyes and decides that perhaps she needs to know just how brutal he could be. She thinks of him as a child, but all he can see when _he_ looks at _her_ is innocence. What is coming will rip it away. Perhaps, to make it hurt less, to make it less of a shock, he can chip away at it, only a little. He reaches back to his braid and takes his knife back out, places it on the silky strands of hair, as if to cut through and she cries out, " _Stop! No!_ "

He looks her in the panicked eyes, "If this is cut, I will become brain-dead."

He sees tears shimmer in her eyes and puts the knife away. " _It is horrible! Why-_ why would you do this?"

He shrugs again and looks to the place on his upper arm where there should be a scar from a bullet graze. "There are times when it is necessary to end a fight as quickly as it is possible. If you know the consequences of you loosing are that much more severe, you do what you have to", then he has an idea. "It is not so different when you hunt. You end the kill's life as quickly as you can, and to do that, you know where its heart is", he places his hand over his own. Then he looks back into her pained and shocked eyes. "Ask your healers, Neytiri", he even takes care to pronounce her name properly, "They could just as easily kill as heal."

She recoils violently, fletching her teeth. The idea is so surreal to her that he wonders just what kind of life she thinks she's leading. Her fellow monkeys kill every day, to provide food. Only because they are hungry. Surely, if they put enough effort into it, they could gather enough fruit and vegetables to eat for them to all be vegetarians. But, well, Jake's not about to suggest it, he likes the way they cook some of the meat.

Jake just smiles wryly. He wonders what her mother would say. The Dragon Lady must be aware of the nature of people. No matter how grateful they are for what the planet provides, Jake doesn't believe for a second that there aren't those among the monkeys who have thought about killing a fellow monkey if it meant they could get the girl or whatever else it is they wanted. After all, power struggles are evident everywhere in this tree. Not in the sense of intrigue, but the values the monkeys have and embody are vital to the social hierarchy. A warrior stands at the top, and a monkey who isn't a warrior who can hunt and defend the tree from other predators is looked down upon. They must then sit with the old who hardly accept them, and the young who understand through their example that they are not good people to take after.

He wonders if, had he simply been taken back to base that first night, he would have been able to elevate the monkeys to the most innocent victims the humans could have picked. To see them without faults.

But then again, he'd have shot himself that first day, had there been no faults with these monkeys.

Maybe he can sit with one such man at dinner, if only to provide companionship.

That evening it isn't hard to pick out the non-warriors among the men and women. Instead of following Neytiri, he gets his food, and asks to sit next to one such man. There is surprise on his face as he nods his acquiescence.

Jake introduces himself. The man returns the favour. They eat in silence and Jake allows the man to study him as he likes. Which he does, with growing confusion, as he catches Neytiri's furious gaze. Finally, the man speaks, " _Why do you sit with me?_ "

Jake looks into his eyes. He's older than Jake, definitely. Softer, kinder. A man with not much taste for violence. He smiles for a second, then shrugs. " _When I was a child_ ", he says haltingly, miffed at his need to watch every word as it leaves his mouth, " _I had a friend who would sit and play by himself, no matter how often I invited him to join our games. It took me some time to understand that he did not want to play because of the other children's way of treating him. It took me even longer to understand why._ "

The man blinks at him slowly, carefully.

Jake continues. " _No matter how you may find my people barbaric, I find that, in many aspects yours are like children disguising themselves as adults._ "

The man looks affronted for a second, then he laughs. It is a low, deep laugh and Jake thinks he'd like to hear more of that. " _Then what are you?_ "

Now it is Jake's turn to laugh. " _Nothing but a_ Jarhead."

The confused glance he gets in return makes him smile. " _Back on_ Earth _, the planet we come from, warriors are both revered and reviled. We do not serve the betterment of society, we only serve to defend and pave the way for it. Progress and new discoveries are all that matters. It is why the sky-people have come_ ", then he looks back at the man, " _That, and this planet has something they want._ "

" _And what is that?_ ", his eyes are a little harder now, more inquisitive and less mirthful.

Jake raises his eyebrows, " _More things to consume_."

The man nods slowly and understanding dawns in his eyes. Jake claps his shoulder in a friendly gesture and gets to his feet. He can make them understand one by one.

Jake has lived and almost died with friends too often not to.

Augustine, he tells about that encounter, that conversation and watches her helpless smile with fascination.

"I'm no psychiatrist, Sully", she says finally and he gives her a shrewd look. She certainly has the brain cells to understand what is wrong and what needs to be done.

"We start with hot showers, Augustine", he smiles at her incredulous look. "Then we move to the concept of cultivating foods closer to the Home Tree and asking uncomfortable questions."

She laughs, long and hard.

Jake is surprised to find that he likes the sound, hasn't made anyone laugh like that in a long, long time. Yeah, they'll get along just fine.

Then, she pulls open her draw and puts a bottle of single malt between them, along with two glasses. He could kiss this woman.


	3. InWhich There is Lasagne

Horses with six legs are horrible creatures. Jake is splattered with mud, has bruises blooming purple on his skin and is thoroughly done.

Neytiri is not.

Fucking _fine_. If they're going to be doing this until Jake is able to stay on that horse's back, fine. He can do this. He got that one suicidal kid not to kill himself once, he can convince a horse to do exactly what he wants. _Exactly_ what he wants. Which just so happens to be splattering Neytiri with at least half as much mud as he's covered with.

So, he connects his _tswin_ with the horse's and makes _tsaheylu_. Only instead of feeling her body, he goes for her mind. It's a series of impressions. Smells, sights, pressure. Emotion, to an undefinable degree. And there is something like curiosity, there, too. What, do the monkeys never look for intelligent thought when they swing on top of a horse's back? Of course not. Why would they, after all? Horses must be beneath them the same way non-warriors are.

Sometimes Jake thinks they are the worst hypocrites out there. They revere Eywa and are thankful for what the planet has to give, of course. But some things aren't treated with the care or attention they deserve.

If this horse in particular is curious, maybe she'll be the perfect partner in crime. Jake only has to give her an impression of what he wants to accomplish, and a feeling of joy and mirth to go along with it. He thinks. Maybe.

So he swings himself onto her back and accepts that if he falls again, his pride won't suffer all that much for it. Not that he has a lot of it in the first place.

It turns out that horses are born pranksters. Jake falls off of that broad back again, but this time it's from laughing so hard at Neytiri's face.

He's punished for it with more lessons about shooting a bow. Jake has a feeling he'll be a master by the time this is over.

Quartritch and Selfridge on the other hand, are going to be thoroughly misinformed.

Augustine is a genius at subterfuge. Which means she makes plans to move them to the flying mountains of Pandora. Which is just super cool, Jake's not going to lie. Norm, who's been a little miffed at how Jake's become the one getting the most of Augustine's attention, is coming with them and Jake takes the opportunity to involve the man's intellect in their schemes. He's a linguistical mastermind. And has read lots of books about warfare and all that. He's a very good addition to the team.

Also, Norm makes a mean bacon sandwich. There's something about the orange-mustard.

Trudie, well, she might not be a genius, but she knows everything about choppers. And how to sabotage them. Which places even an arrow can pierce and do damage like a missile would.

Jake is infinitely grateful that he doesn't have to do this on his own.

There aren't many things Jake misses about Earth, aside from Tommy, but he's gone anyway. One of those things is music. Sure, there are a few albums and tracks that they can play on the station, but it's not the same as going to a concert. Of course, he didn't do that much, what with too large crowds, too many smells and noises, but whenever he could get tickets for a concert where he could sit, he'd go. Music here on Pandora is very… primitive. That's not to say it's not good, far from it, but there is no way of recreating the depth of the bass, the volume, the sounds of another world. Something about music has always reached deep into Jake's chest and spread emotion.

So it's no surprise that when he makes his own arrows under Neytiri's supervision, he hums one of his favourite songs under his breath, wondering how he can improve the arrow or if it's possible to build a crossbow.

" _What is that?_ ", she asks, interrupting his thoughts on the lack of metal.

"Hm?", he looks up from his work.

" _The song_ ", she looks genuinely curious. Usually (ever since the incident with his braid), any personal questions are to be avoided, and anything to do with his culture is ignored. She must like the melody enough to forget about her misgivings for the moment. Well, Jake's nothing if not happy to give her a piece of music.

He teaches her. Explains about the various instruments, offers to have her listen to some music from back home some time. She does not say no. It's a very small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

It makes him wonder, how else can he reach out to them and show them so many more possibilities than the complacency they have going now. What was that saying again? The way to reach a man's heart is through his stomach or something?

Well, Jake isn't a cook like Norm is, but he's resourceful and he knows how to make lasagne.

He's seen some of the children with something suspiciously like milk. There are carrion birds that lay eggs. They don't have wheat or flour, but he's seen something like bread being passed around the hearth. Tomatoes… maybe there's some kind of vegetable here with a similar taste.

Jake takes to hanging around with the cooks.

They are all kind of wary of him. Understandable. But there isn't much he really wants to do about that. He does show one curious elderly woman, Ene'I, how to smoke a fish like he knows it and from then on, he is no longer ignored. She shows him around their variety of vegetables and once he's sufficiently explained what it is he wants to cook, she helps him.

Their first attempt is terrible. Jake will never speak of it again.

But the second and the third, they slowly get close to what he wants it to taste like. By the fourth, all of the cooks are involved and by the fifth, Jake can taste a piece of home.

Dragon Lady comes to visit by the time they've gotten it perfect. Jake's in the corner of the 'kitchen' with Ene'I, trying out various versions of the pandoran lasagne when she strides in. All activities cease and she moves over to them, very serene and dignified. Ene'I seems to want to shrink away a little, like she's not sure what they're doing is allowed. Jake's just a little curious if she's going to try some.

She does. And from the wonder on her face, she likes. Very much.

From then on, lasagne is for dinner once a week and Jake is always welcome in the kitchens.

He's pretty sure Neytiri envies that. Jake is not going to be petty about it and rub it in her face, though. No, he's gracious and takes her with him on his egg-hunts. It becomes a thing.

The children who are old enough to follow them help, too. It always turns into a race. Jake remembers those games where the kids would get a spoon and an egg to lay in it and a parkour to get through. It's a little like that, only no one will break an egg here, Eywa's gift and all that.

When he tells Augustine about it, she looks at him a little funny, then smiles. But she says nothing. Which is a little weird. She always has something to say. In the end, she only reminds him to begin telling the Omatikaya about the sky-people's plans for the hometree.

Getting Neytiri to listen about anything other than music or new foods is a chore and a half.

And still, when he finally has her sitting down, to listen to his warnings, she disregards them. _Disregards them_. Like what he's saying couldn't save hundreds of lives. Brat. And she calls him a child, floundering in his ignorance.

Well, it isn't like Jake can't be resourceful. He tells the children stories from Earth instead. Some are movies, some are books, some are fairy tales, and some are taken from what he remembers from history class. They all listen, fascinated. Even the adults sometimes sit with them and listen. Some even ask questions afterwards that strain Jake's memory or capacity to explain how some concepts that he grew up with work. How some societal norms are entirely alien to them, he can understand. After all, he calls them monkeys. But there are some downright worrying implications about their questions.

They seem to view the sky-people as both beneath them and at the same time, of equal standing, but somehow never as more intelligent as themselves, even though they can travel through space. But then again, the monkeys have no desire to leave Pandora behind. Jake thinks that interacting with him, seeing the changes he can bring, is making them realise just how different they are. To him, they are to be taught. To them, he is the one to learn.

It is, as he tells Augustine one night over a drink and too many cigarettes, very hard not to ask them why they don't have artists or farm or make things more convenient for themselves, even without changing the face of the planet and felling trees, as humans are wont to do. Maybe they're missing the innate desire to laze around collectively. No one is ever not busy. It's the complete opposite of a society where Jake remembers seeing some people spend hours staring at a screen, playing at war without ever leaving their homes.

He remembers Tommy's love of books very well. Stories, so complex that they can't be remembered and told in enough detail to make them as vivid as they appear on paper. Tommy said once, when the mind can escape into another world, create its own images according to the words on paper, it is the most fulfilling thing. Or something like that.

Jake never did like reading thick books much, but he can understand the wish to escape, to have superpowers, to be able to do magic. Well, what he does here, telling stories holds its own kind of magic, but he hasn't seen anyone sit down and do nothing but think and get lost in their own head. There is no one inventing new things.

Maybe it's because they don't need machinery to fly, they just get on an oversized bird with too many sharp teeth.

Jake is not about to judge them for it. Although he has been doing just that. But he gets it. Sort of. They are different. They know different things. They can speak to their ancestors.

Jake kind of wishes he could talk to Tommy that way. All he has now is memories. But even those fade with time.

It kind of feels a like betrayal that Jake can't remember his brother's favourite food any more.

The guilt he feels, being glad that he can do all the things he does with this body never really goes away.


	4. InWhich Jake makes things clear

The thing is, Jake might be an idiot, but he knows when someone needs a kick in the face. That Tsu'Tey kid needs a kick in the nuts. There's nothing like that kind of pain to make you understand when it's better to keep your trap shut. Only, the blue monkeys don't have their danglies outside of their bodies. Which gives Jake the option of socking him in the face. He won't because that might count at challenging the next in line for Feather Shaman, but he'd like to. Very much.

So instead, he laughs in the kid's face when he suggests a fight between the two of them. Because seriously. Jake knows this body inside-out now, can employ his favourite moves with his full strength and hand-to hand always was his speciality. That and a real nice gun.

In his anger, probably driven by teenage-hormones and feeling threatened in his position as Neytiri's fiancé, the kid attacks. And Jake takes pleasure in disabling his every attempt at knifing him to death. Once the knife's gone, the kid has his face pressed into the ground, arms twisted behind his back and Jake's knee digging into his spine. He feels the kind of satisfaction he's been craving since he's been forced to learn how the monkeys live. Only, it gets drowned when he realises that he's holding down an eighteen-year-old.

So he gets up, dusts himself off, and is glad only Neytiri and Tsu'Tey will know what happened here.

Neytiri is both more irritated with him the next day, and less. Which is when he begins to suggest that maybe Augustine could come visit. She's been asking him to get her an in. Which he does, because he's nice. And because he needs a map. Why the monkeys don't have one already, Jake doesn't know. But then again, they don't have paper to write on or even written script. And it isn't like they're too stupid for it, either. So he can reasonably expect them to understand what a map is, why the need one and what to do with it.

Augustine gets allowed inside a couple weeks later and her smile is so, so grateful that Jake has to escape as soon as he has the map. Fuck feelings. He's been repressing his, can't she do the same? (Besides, with the move to the floating rocks they've been sitting on top of each other, Norm and Trudie proving just enough buffer for him and her not to devolve to children's squabbling.)

His _teacher_ is incapable of being anything less than a moody teenager. Which is why Jake employs this virtue called patience and waits her out while she is actively trying to ignore him. It's not like this could impact her entire people. Nothing of that magnitude. At all.

Soon enough, she begins to fidget. He waits a bit longer.

Finally, her eyes dart towards the data-pad.

Jake taps it twice and Pandora comes into view. He zooms in on the Home Tree. She gasps. Good, so she recognises what this is. He slides the map over the screen until he reaches base of bootcamp inc. She looks curious. "That's where the sky-people have their base."

He moves to the mining site. "That's what they intend to do to the entire planet."

Disbelief. Jake shifts the map to show the Unobtanium reserves. "This is what they're here for." He moves back to the hometree. "This is where most of it is."

"What…"

"You've seen it yourself. Tried putting a few arrows through the hulls of those bulldozers. They're going to come, Neytiri, and soon."

She's beginning to get angry. Always anger with her. Well, it's not like Jake wouldn't be the same if he hadn't found his fight here. "Now tell me I can't bring this before your parents again."

She doesn't.

Tsu'Tey, for once, keeps quiet as Jake lines out every strategic counter-measure he knows. The plan he thinks plays to the monkeys' strengths the most is based on hit'n'run tactics and playing for time until Jake can _convince_ both Selfridge and Quartritch that Pandora shouldn't be touched with a ten-foot-pole. Because he knows his own people. And even if they defeat Selfridge and Quartritch themselves, there will be others sent to get that Unobtanium. So, Jake has to make it clear that the monkeys are violent in their retaliation, resourceful and resilient. It has to become known that coming to Pandora means coming to hell. And it's not going to be a lucrative hell.

The first step is sabotage. Set-backs in time-tables will give Selfridge worry-lines. The one after that is to somehow make sure the corporations on Earth hear of them and pressure him into grey hairs. Then, Jake needs to make both him and Quartritch who are convinced of their own superiority over the monkeys that they are, in fact, mortal and this close to being introduced to Eywa.

What Jake needs most is time. Time, to train some of the warriors in infiltration and the kind of stealth you need in buildings to take out cameras. Time to teach both the current and future Feather Shamans what it means to wage war. Teach them how dirty their hands might need to become in order to survive.

So he outlines what needs to be done to sabotage the mining process. Thankfully, Augustine has a disgustingly competent hacker on her team of scientists who has given Jake access to patrol patterns, the weaknesses in the machines and the placement of the security equipment. He swears, without her, he'd be fucking all of this up big time.

With this information drilled into Tsu'Tey and his hand-picked team of monkeys, it's an easy trip in and out, sabotaging mining machines in between.

The only difficulty is one patrol coming through a little late. Which means Jake yanks whoever thought it was okay to just walk out into the open down just in time. The angry snarl and jerk on his grip in enough to tell Jake that it's Tsu'Tey. It's a good thing then, that Jake isn't hoping to befriend the kid anytime soon.

Or Feather Shaman, for that matter, because when Neytiri begins to show uncharacteristic signs of _fretting_ over Jake, he gets the disapproving father-glare at maximum capacity. Fuck that. First of all, Neytiri can be fun, yeah? But she's also not very… stimulating company in the way Augustine is. With Augustine, he plots and laughs and plans, talks and drinks and smokes. She's like his buddy now and that's good. Jake's missed that sort of camaraderie, but he's not into romance and all that. It's a can of worms he left for Tommy to dissect.

Also, he really has no desire to be the leader of the monkeys. At all. Ever. He'd rather go back to Venezuela. Okay, so that's taking it a little far. He could always foist the title off on someone else. Point is, him and Neytiri? Nope.

He'll be their guide and their general, if they'll let him. But he won't care about their domestic disputes or the reason why this guy can't stand the other one, why this guy, with all his poetic tendencies is worth less than that punk kid warrior. (That last bit actually makes him really fucking angry because isn't the whole point of knowing that the planet has feelings too that everyone knows she loves all of her creatures equally, or some shit? He'll have to ask Augustine later.)

Dragon Lady, though, he can get along with. Sort of. Professionally. Because he can't forgive that initial prick with the _not disinfected bone_ (yeah Tommy, Jake heard you the first fucking time). She's the kind of wise grandmother type that gives sound advice and takes charge and is generally badass, but he's never really liked that type. Jake's got his own way of doing things and he grew up with the sky-people, _is_ a sky-person, no matter what he looks like with glowing freckles and a tail, so she can shut her trap right the fuck now.

He doesn't say that. He's not about to make himself into the first executee of the monkeys ever, but his glare gets the point across anyway when she asks about the wisdom of not communicating their wishes directly. How stupid would that be? Very. Abysmally. Stupid.

Beyond a two-handed-facepalm-level stupid.

" _It's not a relationship. It's war. Deceit is part of that_ ", he tells her quietly, though everyone else can hear. They just have too good hearing. Which he should warn them about. There are ways to disorientate through flashes of light, or too loud sounds too close, even pungent smells.

 _Smells_. Why hasn't he thought of that before now? There must be things he can smuggle into the ventilation systems that will knock everyone out with the snap of his fingers. More homework for Augustine. There are going to be so many wonderful brainchildren of theirs in HQ, just waiting to create chaos.

" _It isn't honourable_!", Tsu'Tey exclaims with some nods amongst the audience.

Jake sighs and looks him straight in the eye. " _Honour won't save your planet, won't save Eywa. I don't care how vile you find it – me – but I have fought plenty wars against my own kind, for reasons that don't matter here or I don't care about any more. So trust me when I say this: sky-people fight dirty. We use every trick, every advantage we can think of, and create more if necessary._

" _The first step towards your victory, your triumph of making them leave the planet, is to KNOW them. And I am telling you: we know no honour, we know nothing of compassion and we certainly don't care for Eywa._ "

He knows after saying that, it's highly unlikely he'll ever be part of the monkey-clan, but he continues anyway, recalling his sessions with Norm for the vocabulary he needs. " _We are proud, ignorant, xenophobic, arrogant and intelligent. To make us leave, you are going to have to either be better at all of those things than we are_ ", he casts a sardonic glance at the pulley-system they finally employ (that he explained to them more or less to make this point in the first place), then at Neytiri and Tsu'Tey where they stand beside each other, " _Or you let me and_ Augustine _take care of that. I can't force you to do anything, I can only tell you what I know and help as best I can. But you are your own responsibility_."

There is silence after that.

Then, Feather Shaman makes a noise like an aborted cough. " _Do you consider us children_?", the question is asked with honest curiosity, though a little disapproving twist is to the man's mouth. Heh, that never worked on Jake. Probably because whenever someone was disappointed in him, he had no regrets and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Jake laughs. " _In some ways. In others, I am the infant stumbling over my own feet in my haste to reach the goal_."

Then, he sighs and casts Neytiri a wry smile. He'll be punished for that later, with more hours practising with the bow. Well, it gives him reason to remember his own fallibility. Reason to remind himself that for all he's trying to improve, he might also be an unwanted influence. He might be… corruption.

Dragon Lady speaks next, " _You have spoken true this night, JakeSully. We will think on this._ "

Jake almost salutes her, then stops himself, then thinks of how Augustine would laugh if he did do it, and gives her a two-fingered salute. Surprisingly, Feather Shaman returns the gesture with the one they use when they say ' _I see you_ '.

Later, sitting at the table with Augustine, Trudie and Norm, telling them and the log about what happened, Jake thinks he could have delivered that speech better. Norm thinks so too, but is too polite to voice that thought. Jake punches his shoulder anyway. Trudie just laughs and tells him he needs a shave.

When the other two have gone to bed, and Jake and Augustine hash out the next plan of attack, she suddenly glances up at him sharply. "Make sure you don't patronise them, Sully."

Jake flinches a little. Yeah, that's what he's been doing. It's so fucking easy, though. "Are we any closer to the hot showers yet?", he asks. She knows he's acknowledged her words.

She smirks, "The Home Tree is actually perfect for that. They only need to gather rainwater, heat that in one of the upper levels, then channel the hot water down and stand under wooden showerheads or something."

Jake laughs. "We need to get some kind of paper and pen to my Avatar, Augustine."

She nods. "Mmh, I was thinking the same thing. They don't actually have a written language, so if we tried to detail any plans or reports that way, they would all have to learn how to write and read first. I don't understand them sometimes. They have such a deep connection to the planet and it's bio-system, how can they not find ways to make more time to explore and listen?"

"Not everyone creams their pants at the thought of watching everything interact on a cellular level", Jake teases.

She whacks him over the head with a conveniently close clipboard.


	5. InWhich He goes overboard

The fact that the monkeys are beginning to trust Jake is worrying. Good for his plans, good for them, but worrying all the same. He's not a very paranoid man, but he knows that the lack of questioning of his motives does not bode well for their ability to look underneath the underneath. He'd have thought the lasagne would have taught them that, at least. The fact that they don't seem to care much how that dish is made is no excuse.

It's well and good to be honest, but sometimes appearance is more important than the actual state of things. Or perceived as more important.

In any case, Jake will have to teach them suspicion. The fact that the only one who even remotely questions his decisions is Tsu'Tey is also worrying. And he only questions Jake at every turn because he's worried about Neytiri deciding she likes Jake better. Which is not happening, as far as Jake can tell. He's slammed her face into the hard surface of reality too often for her to harbour any remotely friendly feelings for him.

Especially when it's her father who tells her that Jake is now ready to tame his own ikran.

That's got to hurt. For the first time, she's been given the responsibility of being a teacher, and even now her father is interfering, deciding for her. Jake tries to be sympathetic, he does, but he's quite glad to be done with horses, even though they can be pretty cool.

It's not like Jake intends to make use of their beliefs. Their constant blathering about Eywa is enough for him to keep his fingers out of that pie. Especially since while he shares his stories, they might listen and ask questions, but there is never a tale offered in return.

It's just that Jake's a jackass and when he sees the biggest and baddest of them all, it's going to be him who bonds with it and not some other twit of a monkey who's about to die at the talons of that huge beast. He also has a death wish he didn't know anything about.

So, when instead of meeting the kid's eyes, secure in the knowledge of his capture, the beast zeroes in on Jake who's crouched off to the side, watching attentively how the monkey is pinned to the rocks by a powerful foot, he knows this is either going to be the best idea he's ever had, or the absolute worst.

He surges forward, ready to dodge attacks that are sure to come, ignoring Neytiri's shouts for him to stay put. The beast huge and hulking, abandons its former prey and goes to kill Jake instead.

He leads him away from the group, knowing that if he fails, the others are most likely next.

But Jake isn't a jarhead for nothing. He's been working on his tactical thinking with Augustine night in night out and he forms a plan in his mind even as he dodges a swipe to his midsection. All he has to do in the end, is _tsaheylu_. For which Jake needs to get on the beast's back to avoid dying here.

What he does next is very, very stupid. But it also feels like he's a badass for pulling it off. Too bad there's no one but him and the beast there to witness.

He turns and runs straight at the wall, the beast follows, ready to corner him and tear him apart. Only, once he's reached it, he doesn't stop. Instead, he believes with all his heart that running up a wall is possible, just until he feels himself tilt backwards. With a bellow he pushes off, propels himself through the air and manages to twist out of the way of snapping jaws just so. He lands on the beast's back, yanks the huge queuetowards himself and connects.

The furious, malevolent steel trap of a mind engulfing his is a slightly terrifying experience, but Jake's been terrified enough in his life not to be petrified. He gives the beast the mental equivalent of a smug grin. Startled, the beast examines him.

He feels like they're probably going to get along fine. Jake has no intentions of actually taming the beast. Why fix what isn't broken? He just wants to fly.

The beast seems to be in agreement of this plan.

Neytiri's shout makes him open his eyes and look up. She's on her own ikran, staring at him with wide, startled eyes. He gives her a jaunty wave. The beast sends a mental snort his way.

They decide to play a little.

Flying with the beast isn't like anything Jake's ever felt before. The horses were all willing to do as he asked, so long as he attached positive emotions to it. With the beast this only works if the beast thinks it's funny, too. He's just that bit smarter than a horse.

Neytiri doesn't think being chased by them is very funny, but the beast seems to agree with Jake that it is. He also gets that they're not actually hunting her, but he likes it anyway. After scaring the shit out of her, they take to racing, which she, surprisingly enough, is good enough at to keep up with him.

When they pass Tsu'Tey and the other young warriors, it dawns on Jake that he might have been a little rash. Because no one else has a huge beast for an irkan. No one.

He sighs a long-suffering sigh and a flicker of amusement drifts over their bond. At least someone will get a laugh out of this.

Their landing at the home tree is first greeted with fear, then awe. There is so much touching once Jake gets off of the beast's back. They agree to go hunting together tomorrow and then he takes off. Jake snorts and shakes his head. Really, it's like he got the only not-domesticated one. He turns around and there stands Dragonlady, looking smug.

The Feather Shaman later tells him about Toruk Makto and how he came to the clans in times of great sorrow. Well. Jake's been predicting that all along. He can see how he's regarded with more than casual interest now, how the monkeys seem to hold him in a place above them now, opposite to the way it was before.

When the story is told, Jake strokes a hand along his braid, but says nothing. That's probably better than anything else at this point.

Jake introduces the beast to Augustine the next time she visits. She's brought Norm with her, this time.

"You couldn't just do it like a normal person, could you?", Augustine asks, dry as a desert and continuously unimpressed.

"What, and let some kid die?"

"It's like you've got nine lives", Norm says, eyes large.

"Just two", Jake replies, thinking of Tommy and this body.

Augustine shoots him a look that says she caught that.

Well. He has been pretty good at distracting himself, but even he has to admit that with all that time spent learning what it can do, this body feels more like his own than Tommy's. He's not sure he likes that thought. If he's forgotten his brother's favourite food, could he forget other important details? Details they don't share?

It's a hurt he thinks will never go away.

"So how was the party?", she questions and Jake remembers the constant violation of his personal space with a shiver.

He's not touchy-feely. But it's not only that that makes him shrink away from this. His ascent in station through riding the beast is unsettling. He didn't do it out of calculation, although he can now understand how this is not a disadvantage.

Both of Neytiri's parents now view him with something more than the slight calculation from before. Tsu'Tey has been avoiding him ever since, so there is some upside to it all.

"Fun?", he says and it gets a smile out of her. Even Norm snorts. He knows Jake well enough by now to understand that a party is the last thing he enjoys. The drumbeats remind him too much of gunshots to be anything remotely good for him. That reminds him, he wanted a speaker and some music to play for Neytiri.

He's meant to be returning to base and giving his report in a couple of days. This is the perfect opportunity to plant some of his and Augustine's nastier piles where the ventilation system can't reach. And when Jake says his and Augustine he means the entire science department.

How Augustine has gotten them to become so loyal to her, being all prissy as she is, he has no idea. (But he does get it. He likes her now.)

In any case, appropriating a speaker while he's there and making Augustine bring it to him won't be too much of a challenge. Or maybe two for stereo effect? Norm would probably be happy for the excuse to return to monkey-town.

He'll have to decide on who he wants to listen to what kind of music. Neytiri he can give pretty much anything and she'll go from there. He thinks some of the warriors might enjoy 'epic' music. Ene'I would like classical music, probably. Jake does, too, to a degree. It's when it gets all stuffy and stringent that he balks at it. Maybe someone will even like swing. Or techno. Minimal? Jazz? Blues? Rock? Oriental?

Selfridge is getting antsy. It's a sight for sore eyes. Jake thinks maybe it's time to destroy the roads the mining machines have paved. It's been raining a lot recently, so the ground should be soft enough. The difficulty lies in making it look natural. Which he will need a rockslide for.

A stampede, then? How would he come about instigating one? If the monkeys have anything remotely resembling Cowboys, he'll take it. He'll have to speak with Tsu'Tey, won't he?

And, surprisingly, speak they do.

With some understanding of how sky-people don't actually believe in Eywa because they have no proof, Tsu'Tey has a sharp tactical mind. He knows how to direct a stampede without endangering the animals themselves, and in the end, as Jake watches from the cover of the trees with his beast at his side, he has to admit, the kid will probably make a good chief one day.

They share celebratory drinks and Jake lets the speakers play for the first time.

Choosing the right songs for their first time was challenging. He was all for the classics, some Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Nina Simone, Queen, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, but Augustine was quick to get him away from those ideas. They are something for later. Keep the best for last, he figures.

What they begin with, is something soft, with a piano that turns into what he would call 'epic'. They are celebrating, after all.

The monkeys are fascinated, and in some cases, humbled. They don't know that even music has become nothing more than commerce.

But Jake's glad. He's no longer an alien monster, or even a stranger. He gifts them with possibility and beauty and thinks for the first time, maybe they won't hate him for what he is, one day. If he can manage with Tsu'Tey, who as it turns out enjoys Jazz, surprisingly enough, he can manage with all of them.

* * *

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